Gateless Writing Retreats

Scroll down for all the juicy details you need on Gateless Retreats...

Upcoming Retreats:

SUMMER, 2018The Teacher Training Retreat: July 16-22d, 2018. This teacher training retreat certifies you to teach, coach and lead in the Gateless Method. The Training is one of our most powerful offerings, the training attracts writers from all walks of life and catapults careers to a completely new Zenith. Scholarships are available for this retreat.

FALL, 2018Classic Gateless Retreat takes place at a rambling house overlooking the shores of Indian Cove, Guilford, CT, September 27-October 1, 2018. Please email us immediately at gatelesswriting@gmail.com for further details or to claim your spot, Classic Retreats fill VERY quickly.

ACADEMY RETREAT:The Gateless Academy Retreat: June 7-9th, 2019. This retreat is open to the participants of the 2018-2019 Gateless Academy, where we build our books and create our writing careers . The next Academy starts in September and lasts an academic year, followed by a fantastic writers' romp on the shores of Guilford, CT in June. If you are interested in the Academy, please let us know as soon as possible, gatelesswriting@gmail.com

COMING SOON FOR SPRING, 2019: Gateless Writing Retreat in Tuscany, Italy. Get ready for a deep dive into one of the most beautiful, richest cultures in the world, the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. This is a first ever for Gateless and will fill very very quickly. Please email us at gatelesswriting@gmail.com for details and to claim your spot.

The magic of creativity meets the power of productivity in our delicious one-of-a-kind salon-style writing retreat. Watch the video and scroll down for a complete understanding of the incredible journey that is the Gateless Retreat.

Sweet support for the genius writer within: Every few months an intimate group of writers run away together on what we call Gateless writing retreats. Gateless is about nurturing the writer. While society has previously believed that good writing is born from criticism, recent brain science has found that domain-changing creativity occurs when writers are cherished and encouraged.

Retreat houses are sprawling and light filled, they hold the writer with nooks for reading, delicious home-cooked meals, a beach, sauna and/or hot tub. They provide inspirational classic writing books, an ocean to swim in and miles of beach for seashell searching walks. Most of all we write, read aloud and connect with a dream team of writers who can help move us forward on the creative journey of a lifetime.

“Suzanne has been my guiding light and my inspiration. Since that first Gateless retreat, my story has been highly praised by the best editors at major media outlets. Some of the top publishing houses in New York considered my memoir for publication. At this last retreat, I just signed a book deal for my memoir!” ~Kathleen Murray Moran, New York, professor and author of the upcoming memoir, The Widow and the Hijacker.

The Writing Salon: The core of the Gateless experience are the salon-style writing sessions. The inspiration that leads the sessions viscerally connects you with your intuit. From that place, we write. Whether writers work on new pieces or continue with work they brought along, they are consistently surprised by the power of what they put on the page.

During feedback, we don't "fix" or deconstruct the work because this reverses activity in the part of the brain associated with imagination and creativity. Instead, we foster your innate talent, show you where the work has energy, where your words shine and shimmer, and where your writing is unique. Because we are focusing on your genius, anything not working simply falls away.

As you listen to feedback, you receive bodywork, so that you blast through blocks on the page and in the body. During feedback, you are passed craft tools that give you the skills you need to feel powerful in your work. Sharing writing in this way actually shifts neurotransmitters and fires feel-good endorphins so that you begin to associate the act of writing with absolute bliss. This process has created incredibly potent work that has led to best-selling book deals, literary awards and attention from some of the nation's best literary journals.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will definitely be back on retreat. I learned so much, made lifetime friends and had a blast and thanks to you I am writing like crazy! I'm in the flow, getting so much down, my mind working faster than I can type. No more blank page." ~Kim Griffin, horse-whisperer, Texas.

Who Comes to Retreat? In our daily lives we are CEO's, editors, attorneys, brand strategists, life coaches, therapists, moms, doctors, teachers, writers, artists and much more. We long to create by the sea or cuddle up in the mountains with our laptops. We also want to be productive and believe that our dreams of becoming shape-shifting writers can actually come true. They can.

Should You Come to Retreat? Gateless retreats attract anyone from seasoned writers on their last drafts to writers who have journaled all their lives and want to explore their relationship with the written word. Writing and sharing in the Gateless method creates a common denominator and alchemizes a group to previously uncharted heights.

Wherever you are, if you are hearing the urgent call to write but have felt blocked, if you want to finish a manuscript but don't know where to begin, if you have been waiting for a portal to open so that you can finally feel at home in your own creative skin, come. Share delicious meals, get the bodywork you crave, play on the page, find your voice, hear where you are strong, find again that fantastically beautiful playmate called the muse. The retreat is probably not for you if you believe criticism is the only catalyst for great work, if you don't like to be touched, if you don't want to risk crying or laughing really hard or if you are not at all interested in the depth and wisdom of your own intuit.

But if you are feeling a resonance, a whispered yes, that's a huge sign that you are ready for Gateless.

"I miss you guys already. I just wanted to thank you for your smile, encouragement and the amazing experience of being in a room nestled, among incredible writers and feeling safe to share without embarrassment. Thank you for making me listen to the positive things being said about my writing. My new outlook is going to be viewing through the lens of positivity, start with what is working about a piece, the relationship, the thing I am struggling with and say it out loud. THANK YOU! ~Lindsay Agne, founder of Full Circle Fertility, Massachusetts.

Craft Tools and Take-Aways for Your Work: One very strong piece of the Gateless retreat is getting the skills you need to create both mastery on the page and a life-long career in writing. Though writers of all levels and genres come to retreat, you will always be exposed to writers who are entrenched and well-networked in the industry and have the connections and skills to move you in any direction you desire with your writing.

We will pass you the tools you need to build the novel, craft the self-help, or write the story you've wanted to tell for so long. We will pass you all our secrets on queries, proposals, top media outlets, lit journals, titles, author branding and agents. You will feel buoyed when you leave retreat, with enough skills to make your vision come alive. After retreat, you are invited to join our powerful online community of writers. This private network includes writers who have been published by top media outlets, shortlisted (and awarded!) prestigious literary awards, hit bestseller lists and found their lives changing through the power of the written word.

“I signed up for retreat unsure of what I might get out of the weekend. Not only did I fall in love with my writing (and a particularly gorgeous man, no doubt a result of the Gateless method finding its way into our emails!), this experience has given me faith in my voice as a writer, respect for the ability of my words to help people and the confidence to push my work into channels I’d never have thought to try.” ~Catie Webster, brand strategist and life coach, Montana.

Massage and Bodywork Just For You:Yes, it's true, when you sign up for a Gateless retreat, a staff massage therapist will be on hand to serve you some of the best bodywork you've ever received. We bring along bodyworkers who are known in their fields for the powerful work they do as seasoned practitioners. In the past they have included Margie Pivar, eminent shiatsu therapist, founder of The Shiatsu School of Vermont and author of the internationally-acclaimed Fourth Uncle in the Mountain, and Karen Kenney, Thai bodyworker and trainer, founder of Quest Yoga, spiritual adviser, and host of the The Yoga Show with Karen. Sarah Byrden, a certified instructor in the MogaDao tradition who teaches Archetypal Qigong, Sacred Daoist Sexuality and 5 Element Yoga. Lara Darrow, psychotherapist and somatic movement therapist. And Colin Leech, known for her deep touch, intuitive and therapeutic work, her integrative positional release and her reflexology. Our massage therapist is our retreat mama, on hand to nurture and hold you.

"I came into retreat feeling blocked, distant from my writing, and rudderless. The intense work and deep nourishment of retreat lifted me out of my busy life and grounded me again as a writer. Now I have a plan for my manuscript, agent interest and a surefooted way to move forward."—Kate Baldwin, writing teacher, editor, Massachusetts.

How Did These Retreats Begin?I was working one-on-one as a "book shaman" (my writers' name for me), helping new writers think big about their books, building their brands, writing top-selling proposals, hooking them up with agents, and cheerleading (really loud) as previously unpublished writers signed contracts, negotiated big deals and saw their books go to auction. At the same time, I was holding weekly writing salons in my home in Vermont. At salon we ate chocolate, drank wine, lazed around on couches, wrote wrote wrote in the Gateless method, encouraged each others' genius and leaned into our strengths.

And...miracles happened. Life-long friendships were formed and people fell in love again: with themselves, with each other, with their writing. We found agents and got book deals but more than that? Our lives changed.

“I was a reluctant former poet jaded by years of criticism in creative writing academia. Gateless has helped me rediscover the writer I was as a child, a little girl in love with words and the act of putting pen to paper.” ~Diana Whitney, Vermont, founder of Core Flow Yoga, and author of a new book of poetry from Harbor Mountain Press, Wanting It.

And That's When the Magic Happened! I thought: What if the powerhouse work of making a writer an enterprise were combined with these enchanted Gateless salons? What if I invited writers from all over the world to escape to a beautiful place to create wild, wonderful, life-changing prose? The alchemy of the salon-style Gateless retreat started there. After coming to retreat, people have watched their writing take off. They started and finished books, reached the point of publication and found that their writers never again needed to be afraid of the blocks and the false starts. You come away flying.

When And Where Are the Retreats? Salon-style Gateless writing retreats happen at various locations throughout the year. Pick your 2018 retreat below. If you do not see a retreat that suits, the Gateless Teacher Training Program is now training writers and coaches to lead salon-style Gateless retreats all over the world. Shoot me an email at suzannekingsbury@suzannekingsbury.com so we can find one just for you.

Classic Gateless Writing Retreat, September , 2018. NOTE: Classic Gateless Retreats fill VERY quickly, please send me a note if you are interested: gatelesswriting@gmail.com. Nothing is more nurturing for the creative soul than the classic retreat. Four days of cozying up on the couch with your muse, farm-to-table meals cooked by our private chef, daily Reiki + Thai head massage and a bodyworker on staff to move the blocks out of your body while you blow through them the page. This retreat is for anyone who wants to generate new work, finish a book, start a book and generally make sweet love to the wisdom of the word. One of the most invigorating things you can do for your writing. To learn more visit us here. To register, shoot me an email at: gatelesswriting@gmail.com.

All Hallows Eve Shamanic Journeying and Gateless Writing Retreat:Cape Cod Mass, October 25th-28th. An extraordinary, life-changing retreat that includes a series of shamanic journeys that use the power of spirit and the medicine of the imagination to shift long-held patterning in the body. We merge to enter the power of Gateless writing, where we blast through age-old blocks we've held for lifetimes. In this workshop we experience profound catharsis and ecstasy that leads to creative genius. If you are interested in this course and need more information or would like to register, please email me at suzannekingsbury@gmail.com.

If you are looking to retreat, feel free to get in touch, together we will find the perfect one for you: gatelesswriting@gmail.com.

“Now I can quit my day job.” ~Dulcie Whitman, psychotherapist, Maine, after her first Gateless Retreat, she is now a Gateless Certified teacher.

How Do I Sign Up? Retreats fill fast, so reserve your space as soon as you can!! Prices range from $950 to $1575, depending on locale and room choice and include everything but the vehicle to get you there. Contact me if you would like to find the perfect retreat for you: gatelesswriting@gmail.com

Do You Want to Become Certified as a Gateless Teacher/Coach/Facilitator? Our Gateless Gate Teacher Training Program will certify you to teach Gatelessin community classes, private workshops and destination retreats. For details, visit us here: Gateless Teacher Training.

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CONNECT WITH US

"I've gone to so many retreats, but I've never been as deep as this. It's scary because it's so beautiful."

? Demaris Wehr, Martha's Vineyard

"It was amazing to see our strengths, abilities and capabilities come through, we allowed ourselves to be honest because that?s what makes for great writing. We came at it thinking strength looked one way, but we're confirming that strength looks completely different than how we thought it would...."

"This weekend there was every opportunity to expand and contract and it happened over and over again, we realized we are not separate, the hard lines between us slipped away, our limits were respected, I could trust your tears and I could trust my own."

"I am so moved by the experience I had at the retreat. Thank you so much for manifesting this for me. I felt myself bursting through other emotional blocks, so amazingly strange when all you were inviting us to do is to come back to the playground, the meadow, to frolic and play, to feel free and safe. Funny this can be so difficult. I think we have something akin to the frothing three headed dog of Hades guarding the entrance, or razor sharp spinning swords. I have a ten foot tall bust of my father rolling his eyes at me. How much fun it is to have the girl from Ipanema blazing the trail past these knee crumpling menaces. Suzanne, walking out past the lusty evil vampires with her sexy legs and living colors, sometimes stopping to increase the flow of her power by doing the appropriate asana, making sure our bodies are warm, and our bellies full of hearty soup. Suzanne leaves trails of treats around the room in case we are so stuck that the only recourse is to coax out our spirits with chocolate.
The brilliance of Suzanne?s methodology is the barring of the critical voice. This makes sense to me as a practitioner in the health field. Why on earth would I criticize a person for having scoliosis, or a back spasm? This analogy works, because usually we write about something that has moves us and this generally includes an inherent pain and suffering. Even in writing about a beautiful sunrise it is impossible to ignore the fact that this too will die. All the things we write about come from the tender spot in our hearts, whether we are writing about injustice, or relationships, or cheese making, or the life cycle of turtles. We all feel deeply, we have myriads of memory and story and heartbreak and these validate our unbearable human condition as separate ships sailing on stormy seas from birth to death. Understanding this, Suzanne perceives the beauty and vulnerability in all her students who continue to grow and develop their own signature voices. The Wild Words Retreat was an unexpected journey to give myself permission to take stock of my life-earned wisdom and to sing of the treasures in my heart. A lifelong gift to myself.